State v. Burnette
State v. Burnette
Opinion of the Court
We have here for determination (1) the sufficiency of the evidence to carry the case to the jury, and (2) the adequacy and correctness of the charge.
The defendant assigns as error the failure of the court to sustain his motion for judgment of nonsuit made at the close of the State’s case, the defendant offered no evidence, on the charge of assault with intent to commit rape; and also assigns as error a similar ruling of the Court on the charge of assault on a female. His argument in support of these motions is based on two grounds: one, no assault was committed, and two, consent of Frances Buffaloe.
The defendant contends that the State’s evidence shows that he is the victim of an entrapment, and that the case should have been nonsuited. Before discussing this contention, we advert to certain relevant principles of law.
It is the general rule that where the criminal intent and design originates in the mind of one other than the defendant, and the defendant is, by persuasion, trickery or fraud, incited and induced to commit the crime charged in order to prosecute him for it, when he would not have committed the crime, except for such incitements and inducements, these circumstances constitute entrapment and a valid defense. S. v. Marquardt, 139 Conn. 1, 89 A. 2d 219, 31 A.L.R. 2d 1206 and Anno. p. 1212; Butts v. U. S., 273 Fed. 35, 18 A.L.R. 143 and Anno. p. 149; Robinson v. U. S., 32 Fed. 2d 505, 66 A.L.R. 468 and Anno. p. 482; Sorrells v. U. S., 287 U.S. 435, 77 L. Ed. 413, 86 A.L.R. 249 and Anno. 265; People v. Finkelstin, 98 Cal. App. 2d 545, 553, 220 P. 2d 934; Falden v. Commonwealth, 167 Va. 549, 555, 189 S.E. 329; S. v. Jarvis, 105 W. Va. 499, 500, 143 S.E. 235; 22 C.J.S., Criminal Law, pp. 99-100; 15 Am. Jur., Criminal Law, Sec. 336. See also S. v. Love; S. v. West, 229 N.C. 99, 47 S.E. 2d 712; S. v. Godwin, 227 N.C. 449, 42 S.E. 2d 617.
In the leading case of Butts v. U. S., supra, Sanborn, C. J., said for the Court: “The first duties of the officers of the law are to prevent, not to punish, crime. It is not their duty to incite to and create crime for the sole purpose of prosecuting and punishing it.”
A clear distinction is to be drawn between inducing a person to commit a crime he did not contemplate doing, and the setting of a trap to catch him in the execution of a crime of his own conception. S. v. Jarvis, supra; S. v. Mantis, 32 Idaho 724, 187 P. 268; 15 Am. Jur., Criminal Law, p. 24; 22 C.J.S., Crim. Law, pp. 100-101.
This Court said in S. v. Ice Co., 166 N.C. 366, 81 S.E. 737: “A very similar, case is S. v. Smith, 152 N.C. 798, for selling whiskey contrary to the statute, in which case a police officer, suspecting the defendant, employed one to buy whiskey from the defendant and furnished the money. The defendant, like all victims caught in a trap, viciously assailed the trap. He said he ought not to be punished, because the prosecutor had ‘connived’ at his offense. This Court said: ‘It is not the motive of the buyer, but the conduct of the seller, which is to be considered,’ and held that the defendant was properly convicted.”
In People v. Conrad, 102 App. Div. 566, 92 N. Y. Supp. 606, affirmed in 182 N.Y. 529, 74 N.E. 1122, in a Memorandum Decision, the defendant was convicted of an attempt to commit the crime of an abortion. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court said: “The conviction of the defendant was brought about by means of a trap arranged by the officers of the County Medical Society. It is claimed that, as the defendant was lured into the commission of the claimed overt acts, he cannot be punished therefor. This contention has recently been the subject of examination by this court and by the Court of Appeals, and decided adversely to the contention of the defendant. He was not a passive instrument in the hands of the entrapping parties. He did the act with which he was charged voluntarily, with full knowledge of the subject, and of the consequences which would flow therefrom. Under such circumstances, setting a trap by which he was caught is not a defense.”
In certain crimes consent to the criminal act by the person injured eliminates an essential element of the offense, and is, therefore, a good defense. Where a person arranges for a crime to be committed against
In People v. Hartford L. Ins. Co., supra, the Illinois Supreme Court said: “One cannot arrange for a crime to be committed against himself or his property, and aid, encourage, or solicit the commission of the crime (Love v. People, 160 Ill. 501, 32 L.R.A. 139, 43 N.E. 710), but if he does not induce or advise the commission of the crime, and merely creates the condition under which an offense against the public may be committed, the rule does not apply (People v. Smith, 251 Ill. 185, 95 N.E. 1041).”
In S. v. Hughes, supra, the defendants were charged with feloniously breaking into a store to commit larceny. The State’s evidence showed that the two defendants broke into and robbed the store. Defendants offered evidence which tended to show that one defendant went to an employee of the store and suggested that the employee give him the safe combination and, if so, the loot would be divided with him; the employee reported the conversation to his superior officer, who instructed him to give the defendant a purported combination to the safe; thereafter the employee gave the defendant a combination and advised him how to break into the store and when the safe would contain a large sum of money; and that the officers seized them in the execution of their offense. The defendants contended that the owner had consented to the offense, and therefore they were not guilty. The lower court excluded this evidence of the defendants, and this Court held it properly did so, saying “if it had been admitted, we do not think it would be a defense for the defendants.”
S. v. Goffney, 157 N.C. 624, 73 S.E. 162, is a case where consent to the crime was a defense. In that case the evidence was that the owner of the building entered, directed his servant Farmer to induce the defendant to break in his store; that the servant obeyed his orders, and the
In S. v. Decker, 326 Mo. 946, 33 S.W. 2d 958, the defendant was convicted of bank robbery. The Supreme Court of Missouri held this instruction on the issue of entrapment properly declared the law on the case: “It informs the jury that, where the criminal intent to commit a crime originates in the mind of the defendant on trial and the offense is accomplished, it constitutes no defense that an opportunity is furnished or that an officer aided the accused in the commission of the crime in order to obtain evidence upon which to prosecute him. It then informs the jury that, if they find from the evidence that the criminal intent, if any, to rob the bank originated in the mind of defendant, and the robbery was accomplished, it is no defense to said robbery that an opportunity was furnished or that an officer aided.”
This is the sixth headnote in S. v. Snider, 111 Mont. 310, 111 P. 2d 1047: “Where evidence showed that criminal intent to steal sheep originated in mind of accused and that at most owner and sheepherder who placed sheep in shed from which 56 Iambs were loaded at night by accused remained silent and failed to place obstacles in way of accused and afforded him facilities whereby he could carry out his own criminal design without giving consent to taking, evidence warranted conviction of grand larceny as against defense of ‘entrapment.’ ”
The facts in S. v. Nelson, supra, are quite different from those in the instant case. In the Nelson Case there was no evidence that the prose-cutrix knew that a crime was contemplated against her person by the defendant.
To convict a defendant on the charge of an assault with intent to commit rape, the State must show by evidence “not only an assault, but that the defendant intended to gratify his passion on the person of the woman, and that he intended to do so, at all events, notwithstanding any resistance on her part.” S. v. Massey, 86 N.C. 658; approved and followed in S. v. Hill, 181 N.C. 558, 107 S.E. 140; S. v. Jones, 222 N.C. 37, 21 S.E. 2d 812; S. v. Heater, 229 N.C. 540, 50 S.E. 2d 309. An assault is essential to constitute the crime. S. v. Overcash, 226 N.C. 632, 39 S.E. 2d 810.
The evidence offered by the State, considered in the light most favorable to it on the motion for judgment of nonsuit, tends to show these facts: One, the defendant saw Frances Buff aloe the Saturday before the 29th of November, watched her walk from her husband’s store to her home, and then and there an intent and design originated in his mind to satisfy Ms unlawful sexual lust upon her person by force and
The defendant has five assignments of error to the charge: all relate to what the Trial Court charged the jury as to entrapment.
Whether the defendant was entitled to have the defense of entrapment submitted to the jury is to be determined by the evidence. Before a Trial Court can submit such a defense to the jury there must be some credible evidence tending to support the defendant’s contention that he was a victim of entrapment, as that term is known to the law. Sorrells v. U. S., supra; S. v. Marquardt, supra; 53 Am. Jur., Trial, Sec. 291.
The evidence in this case as to what Frances Buffaloe and the officers did is not as strong as what the employee of the store did in S. v. Hughes, supra, and we held that what the employee did was not a defense for the defendants. In our opinion, and we so hold, there is no
However, in spite of the fact that there was no evidence to support the defendant’s contention of entrapment, the Trial Judge submitted such a defense to the jury in its charge.
The Court instructed the jury that entrapment is a plan to catch by trap or trick or artifice, or to ensnare a person. No offense is committed where a person arranges for a crime to be committed against himself or his property, and aids, encourages or solicits the commission thereof. If a person induces another to commit a crime against the moving party to catch him in the act which he would not have done otherwise, then the person so apprehended may set up entrapment as a defense, and is entitled to an acquittal. The defendant assigns as error the sentence in - the charge immediately following the above part of the charge, to wit: “If the person does not induce, encourage, aid or solicit the commission of a crime against himself or his property, he may wait, for it would be criminal to perpetrate an offense or create a condition under which an offense against the public may be committed.” This assignment of error is without merit. Annotations: 18 A.L.R. 146; 66 A.L.R. 478; 86 A.L.R. 263.
The defendant has two assignments of error, based upon Exceptions 16 and 23, to this part of the charge: “The Court charges you that the charges laid in the bill of indictment against the defendant and upon which he is being tried, are individual rights of a person to which want of consent is an element and to which the law just given you applies. If you find from the evidence that the prosecuting witness met the defendant at the location where she was allegedly assaulted pursuant to an appointment which she and the defendant had made in a telephone conversation; that prior to her actual meeting of the defendant that the prosecuting witness had kept two previous appointments to meet the defendant, at which time the defendant did not approach the prosecuting witness, that all of the appointments which the prosecuting witness made with the defendant were at night, that at the time of the actual meeting the prosecuting witness was seated in her car under the steering wheel with only her parking lights and dash lights on; that when the defendant arrived and did approach the prosecuting witness, that she told him that she was waiting to meet someone, that on all occasions when the prosecuting witness kept appointments to meet the defendant she appeared to be alone and so appeared at the time and place of their actual meeting; that she informed the defendant as to how he might enter her automobile by going around to another side of it; that when he had gone around to another side of her automobile, she
The defendant contends particularly that the use of the words “and which plan to assault did not originate with the defendant” is reversible error. To sustain such contention would necessitate the overruling of the overwhelming weight of authority. Annotations: 18 A.L.R. 146; 66 A.L.R. 478; 86 A.L.R. 263.
The defendant also contends that the use of the words: “If you further find beyond a reasonable doubt that she did know or had reason to believe that the defendant was going to commit an assault upon her, if you find from the evidence that the prosecuting witness aided the defendant in such conduct toward her at their meeting,” put the burden of proof upon the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. It seems to
The next assignment of error to the charge relates to a statement of the State’s contentions. These contentions are amply supported by competent evidence. This assignment of error is overruled.
The last assignment of error to the charge is to this part of it: “Now, there is a difference between inducing a person to commit an unlawful act and setting a trap to catch him in the execution of the criminal offense of his own conception. No offense is committed where a person arranges for a crime to be committed against him or his property and aids and encourages and solicits the commission thereof. If the criminal intent originates in the mind of the accused and the criminal offense is completed because of the fact that an opportunity is furnished or that the accused is aided in the commission of the crime in order to secure evidence against him constitutes no defense on the part of the defendant.” This assignment of error is without merit. S. v. Jarvis, supra; S. v. Mantis, supra; 15 Am. Jur., Criminal Law, p. 24; 22 C.J.S., Criminal Law, pp. 100-101; Annotations: 18 A.L.R. 146; 66 A.L.R., 478; 86 A.L.R. 263.
There are no assignments of error to the evidence. The other assignment of error is formal.
The defendant has been found guilty as charged in the bill of indictment by a jury under a charge highly favorable to himself. Reversible error is not made to appear. The defendant must abide by the judgment of the Trial Court.
No error.
Concurring Opinion
concurring: The evidence, considered in the light most favorable to the State, is sufficient to support the finding by the jury
In the court below, defendant’s counsel submitted elaborate prayers for instructions bearing upon the subj ect of entrapment. I agree that error, if any, in the instructions given was in defendant’s favor.
Furthermore, I agree that the defense of entrapment, as understood and defined in the criminal law, was not available to the defendant under the evidence. Everything prosecutrix did was done under threat or peremptory demand of defendant.
The evidence is clear that the primary purpose, if not the sole purpose, of the alleged entrapment was to identify the man who had called prosecutrix over the telephone. The plan was to contact this man and to draw him into conversation whereby he would expressly or by implication identify himself as the person who had telephoned.
The court below rightly analyzed the case. The evidence as to the appointments and meetings, and as to what occurred immediately preceding the assault, was relevant on the question of defendant’s intent at the time of the assault, i.e., whether he then intended to have sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix at all events, notwithstanding any resistance she might make. On this phase of the case, after correct instructions as to the elements of the crime, the court instructed the jury as follows: “As I have already stated to you, if you are not satisfied from the evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant assaulted Mrs. Buffaloe with the then present intent to commit rape upon her, it is your duty to return a verdict of not guilty as to that.”
Included in the court’s review of defendant’s contentions are the following: The defendant “contends that, if you find from the evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt that he was there and did open the door of the car and get in the automobile, the circumstances, the testimony in this case, could not lead you to the conclusion that he intended to rape her; says and contends that human experience, your common sense and experience is contrary to that, because he says the most the State’s evidence could possibly satisfy you beyond a reasonable doubt was that he went there by appointment, and the State so contends he went there by appointment; that on two occasions, at least one at the drive-in and one at the railroad crossing before that time, the very person that the State says was to be there, and the State contends that it was he, the defendant; that the State’s own evidence tends to show that he had reason to believe that he was being met by a woman agreeing to his proposition; that she had gone twice to meet him and, having done so the third time, and having unlocked the door and invited him into the automobile, that it is contrary to human experience, contrary to common sense that he would have then, after all the arrangements were
In my opinion the court, by the instructions quoted above and similar instructions, gave to defendant the full benefit of the circumstances bearing upon what he calls entrapment as related to the only issue on which such evidence was germane.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State of North Carolina v. Bernice Lee Burnette
- Cited By
- 50 cases
- Status
- Published